Okay, I think after this chapter I might update the other story. Anyway, I hope that everyone has been enjoying this story. I hope that it's answering some of the questions everyone might have had when this relationship comes up. Anyway, I hope you like this chapter. Oh, and I wouldn't expect too much updating until Monday because I have a very busy weekend planned. Anyway, enjoy!
Chapter 4: Discrimination in the New World
Storm was a little nervous about heading into Luin. After the group helped rebuild the city from the effects of its attack from the Desians, the citizens erected a statue in honor of Raine. Even with this act of kindness and appreciation Zelos once told Storm that they were all very racist in the city. They resented half-elves for what they did and it was told that half-elves could barely pass through the town, let alone live in it. It was a sad consequence from Kvar's actions, but maybe there was still some hope of making peace with the citizens. Either way Storm wasn't sure if it was a good idea to bring in a whole army of half-elves that appeared to resemble the Desians so close to the town and the human ranch.
"We'll head into town to see if anyone has seen or heard anything about Magnius hanging around the ranch. The rest of you try to find out if anyone is there, and if there are people there find out how many," Yuan ordered his officers before going to Storm who was ready with the few soldiers she had picked out to follow them. They had the soldiers dress casually so they didn't scare off the villagers too much.
Storm walked up to a young woman who was walking through the square. She thought that she looked friendly enough as she came up to her.
"Excuse me, but may I ask you a few questions?" she asked softly as she gave her a friendly smile.
"Uh...I suppose it depends on the questions," the woman replied.
"Well, I was wondering about the ranch close by here. I was wondering if anyone has seen anyone wandering around there. We're going to try and get them out if there is someone there," Storm explained to her.
"Well, there has been rumors about more of those Desians going in and out of there, but it's just a rumor," she told her. "Is that it?" she asked nervously as she looked behind Storm.
"Yeah," Storm said with an almost confused look on her face. The woman then walked away in the away from Storm quickly. Storm turned around to find out what the woman became so nervous about, but she only saw Yuan coming up behind her.
"What was that all about?" she asked.
"Never mind, did you find out anything?" Yuan questioned her anxiously. Storm began to wonder if there was something that was worrying him.
"Well, it's been rumored that people have been going in and out of there lately. They say they look like Desians, but that it's just rumors," Storm relayed the information to him.
"Good, let's get back to the others and we can plan on how to get in there," Yuan told her.
"What is going on? Why are you acting so nervous suddenly?" she asked him finally when he tried to walk away.
Yuan stopped and came up to her closely. "Haven't you noticed how these people are acting around us? This can't be safe and I don't really want to start anything here," Yuan pointed out to her in a whisper. Storm looked around her and noticed all the stares that they were getting.
"Yeah...I suppose we can go," she agreed as she began to follow him out of the city.
"That's right, get out of here half-elves," a man's voice broke through the crowd. Storm stopped in her tracks. She spun around to find the source of the voice. Yuan and the soldiers were forced to stay behind with her and Yuan tried to grab her frantically before something broke out.
"Who said that?" she asked into the crowd.
"I did," a man answered as he stepped out. He seemed to be about middle-aged and he was most definitely human. He was a little taller than Storm and he was definitely fatter than her. She looked him up and down. "Your kind is not welcomed in this village," he pointed out to her.
"Yeah, and who came up with that rule?" she asked him threateningly.
The man looked Storm over before staring at her in amazement. "You're human!" he said with disbelief written all over his face.
"Uh...yeah and you are too," she said, pointing out the obvious.
"Why are you traveling with these half-elves?" he asked her in confusion.
"Why wouldn't I? Don't tell me it's because I'm human and I'm supposed to be better than they are," Storm asked him, almost daring him to tell her what he thought.
"They're just worthless maggots and they'll probably stab you in the back someday," the man told her, laughing a little at what he thought was lack of sense on her own part.
Storm glared at the man angrily. She was about to reach for her sword when Yuan grabbed her arm and whispered in her ear. "Let's get out of here now Storm. Please don't start anything now," he told her as he attempted to move her.
"I'm not going anywhere until I sort this guy out," she whispered back to him. She took a step away from Yuan and towards the man. "These people are much better than you'll ever be. I'll stand with them no matter what," Storm told him. "I hate people like you who think they're better than everyone else. Why don't you crawl back into whatever hole you crawled out of," Storm spat at him angrily. This obviously made the man very upset as he came closer to Storm.
Two men came up behind the very upset man and attempted to pull him back. The man pushed them off and looked at Yuan. "You'd better teach your girl her place before I teach it to her myself," he said. That was the final straw for Storm, she knew where her place was. Her place where she was, kicking this sorry human to the ground to teach him some manners.
Storm grabbed her sword and went to attack the man, but before she could reach him she was stopped by Yuan and the other soldiers as they held her back. She struggled against her as the man laughed at the sight.
"You wouldn't be laughing if I wasn't being held back. You'd be crying for your mom so fast," she called to him as Yuan dragged her out of the town.
"Why didn't you let me at him? He was being so rude to you and the others. I couldn't stand it, I wanted to fight him so badly, but you wouldn't let me. Why?" she asked him angrily once they were back to camp.
"Did you honestly want a huge fight to start in that town. You can't be fighting every human or elf who hates half-elves, we'd never get anything done," he told her.
Storm looked at Yuan. How could he be so fine with something like that? There was no way that Mithos would ever put up with something like that, but he was able to brush it off so easily.
"Didn't it hurt when he said those things?" Storm asked, she wanted to know if she was actually defending his feelings.
"Of course, but I don't resort to violence all the time," he told her angrily, he was still upset with how she had handled the situation.
"That's the only way I know how to do things. If someone makes me upset or gets the in the way you fight them," she told him. Yuan looked at her and realized that she was only taught to fight for Mithos and Cruxis. She didn't know how to really solve problems peacefully, but always had been taught to resort to violence. It was sad, but he supposed that he should feel good that she was willing to put herself in harm's way to defend his own feelings.
"I know that what you did back there was for me and the others and I appreciate it, but I don't want to see you picking fights with people like that anymore," he told her as he looked away from her.
Storm looked at him for a moment in amazement. She blushed a little when she realized that she had done all that for him, but then looked back down at the ground. "No problem..." she said sadly as she stared into their small fire. Tomorrow they would be heading to the ranch to take on Magnius. This was something that she knew she could handle. There was no diplomacy needed. Magnius would never listen to reasoning, it would resort to fighting and she was ready for it.
Well, that's it for this chapter. I hope you like it. I will be moving on to Could it Be Love? now so I'm leaving you on a psuedo-cliffie. Anyway, I hope you liked this chapter. Thanks for reading, please review, and thanks for all the reviews from the last chapter. Thanks!
